Man charged with threatening Kansas City-area synagogue
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
— A Kansas City man has been charged with threatening a synagogue in suburban Overland Park.
According to the Kansas City Star, prosecutors accused Brian Wachter, 40, of making an unspecified threat on May 31 against Congregation Beth Shalom. A Conservative synagogue, Beth Shalom has roots dating back to 1878, according to its website.
It was not clear whether Wachter’s arrest was related to a security threat to the Kansas City Jewish community reported earlier this month. The head of the local Jewish federation issued a statement on June 14 saying that Jewish agencies had become aware that morning “of a potential threat to the broader Kansas City Jewish community.”
“Working in collaboration with law enforcement officials, immediate steps were taken by our Director of Community Security to secure our facilities,” the statement said. “Law enforcement has since resolved the situation, and we continue to work with local and national officials to maintain a safe and secure community.”
Wachter appeared in court Thursday on a single criminal threat count and was jailed, with bond set at $25,000, the Kansas City Star reported.
In April 2104, a white supremacist killed three people in front of two Kansas City Jewish institutions: two in the parking lot of the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City in Overland Park, Kansas, and one in the parking lot at Village Shalom, a Jewish assisted-living facility a few blocks away.
The killer, Frazier Glenn Cross, said he intended to kill Jews, but none of the victims was Jewish. Cross, who also goes by the name Frazier Glenn Miller, was convicted of three counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to death earlier this year.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
